Open Source is NOT a new philosophy

IT professionals sometime tend to believe that they are so unique that no
other industry shares similar developments. They talk of Open Source in
similar vein. If you look at river water Vs bottled water, solar energy Vs
commercial energy, nature cure Vs modern drugs, professional associations
running magazines Vs commercial publishing houses, free music concerts in
temples Vs paid concerts – you will find there were similar attempts in every
area – making things available free in a community spirit. All such
experiments are alive and thriving, but they end up as marginal players, with
no significant impact. Linux could be an exception in O/S area; will it
happen in more lucrative areas – database, with Oracle dominance, middleware,
with IBM dominance, and application, with SAP dominance, I have serious
doubts.(Part of the Panel Discussion on Open Source organized at Delhi on January
23, 2004)